Floating floors with mechanical joint systems and with a surface of laminate or wood have in recent years taken large shares of the market from, for instance, carpets and plastic flooring but also from wooden flooring that is glued to the base. One reason is that these floors can be laid quickly and easily on a subfloor that does not have to be perfectly smooth or flat. They can move freely from the subfloor. Shrinkage and swelling occur under the baseboards and the joints between the floorboards are tight. A floating floor with a mechanical joint system can easily be taken up and laid once more. Individual floorboards can be replaced, the subfloor is accessible for renovation and the entire floor can be moved to a different room.
Plastic floors and textile floor coverings that are glued to the subfloor require a perfectly flat subfloor. Laying is complicated and the flooring cannot be removed without being damaged. Such floorings are advantageous since they can be supplied in widths of for instance 4 m. There are few joints. Plastic floorings are impermeable to water, and both plastic flooring and textile flooring are soft and produce a lower sound level than laminates and wooden floors.
Thus, floating floors have many advantages over floors that are glued to the subfloor. A great drawback of such floating floors with a hard surface of wood or laminate is, however, that they produce a high sound level with people walking on the floor. The sound level can be annoying especially in public places, such as offices, hotels and business premises where there are many people walking around. It would be possible to use floating floors to a greater extent if the sound level could be reduced.